A truly melt-in-your-mouth dish, galawati kebab or galouti kebab is prepared with finely ground meat and unripe papaya, which is seasoned with a rich blend of spices. Egg is used to bind the meat and other ingredients like crushed ginger and garlic, and fried onion, together. This blend is then shaped into thin, round patties and lightly fried in ghee (clarified butter) on a pan. Once a golden sizzle is seen on the exterior of the patties, they are taken off the heat and served with a generous helping of raw onions and lemon. 

This special dish was curated exclusively for the toothless Nawab of Lucknow, Asaf-ud-Daula; since he couldn’t chew. This special version of the regular kebab was created for him in the 16th century, and comprised meat so finely ground and cooked, it would explode in a flavour of meaty deliciousness and spices in the first bite. 

In fact, this particular Nawab was so fond of kebabs, he would have them served to his labourers too! It is said that every day, he would be served a plateful of kebabs with one secret ingredient, which he would then try to guess. It is widely believed that it was Haji Mohammad Fakr-e-Alam Saheb, the inventor of the Moti pulao, who made the first galawati kebab using as many as 150 exotic spices.